Loyle Carner, Athian Akec, Wesley Joseph - Blood On My Nikes

Yo, I was just a kid, I was barely sixteen Couldn't tell a man what this shit means To shoot a man on a fucking split-screen Take a life that was kinda pristine Uh, I wasn't listening to Christine And the Queens, I was listening to fifteen Young men like me kick a sixteen Full of pain in a city, let the shit stream Deep in the consciousness, down south Where the monsters live, abandoned houses and consequence Yeah, heart breaks, it was common sense Don't sit on that shit, man, we jumped the fence Uh, 'cause certain areas are tense Yeah, that's why I'm never at events Uh, 'cause I was tryna make pence Doesn't make bread, doesn't make sense Mama, I lost a friend (ayo, it doesn't make sense) Mama, I lost again Yo, it's the L, won't you pull it? The destination of the bullet, the man living life to the fullest Can't lie, yo, at times, was the purest But now you're in another city like a tourist The prayers can't cure this, deep rain, hop in the ride I closed the door, told the cabbie to drive, uh Late at night, see the mother that cried The bullet whizzed past my face, saw her son as he died My eyes wide, yeah Ah, shaking up my belly from inside Ah, I shoulda stayed, shoulda lied Yeah, I shoulda prayed, shoulda tried Trust, but like his mother, I cried When they took the boy's life 'cause he's from the wrong side Shit, I know I should have thought twice Ah, washing off the blood from my Nikes Mama, I lost a friend (I lost a friend) Mama, I lost again (I lost again) Ah, and so I grew up, scared of the night bus Scared of the boys that look like us, ah No wonder why they want to fight us They think the same, give a second and we might buss Squeeze, bust caps, spray, say it's a wrap I wish I'd given him a hug and a dap Wish he could have felt my son on his lap And seen life's for the living, to be done with the trap But it's a fact, live for today, fuck tomorrow No tomorrow if your life's feeling borrowed He needs the money right now, fuck the sorrow Spend it right now, right now feeling hollow Then save it for a rainy day, if every day's grey And tomorrow might never come his way Ah, just another man went astray The hate, tell him get from out my way The impact of knife crime on individuals is undeniable And while politicians wish to police themselves out of the knife crime epidemic It is simply not possible We must focus on the root causes of knife crime Poverty, inequality, austerity, and a lack of opportunity We must petition the government to put reason over rhetoric Compassion over indifference, equality over austerity As knife crime claims more lives within our country Never has so much been lost by so many Because of the indecision of so few